- The FSU Civil Rights Institute celebrated a soft opening on Monday with new director Ted Ellis addressing a crowd.
- The CRI aims to empower students to get involved in the fight for civil and human rights while also serving as a resource for civil rights history.
- Watch now to hear from a student on how the CRI is most important in the wake of legislation against teaching Black history in public schools.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Bringing civil rights history into 2023 and beyond.
I'm Alberto Camargo in the Collegetown neighborhood.
Where new beginnings at the Florida State Civil Rights Institute were celebrated Monday evening with a soft opening.
I attended the event to speak with students and leaders to get their thoughts on the new direction, new plans for the present and a focus on the future.
On stage, director Ted Ellis said when his artwork was featured at the CRI's inaugural event in 2018, he never thought he'd be at the head of the institute.
I met with him before the event, and he said the CRI's focus is to inform students on history, but also to inspire them to continue the conversation and make waves in the civil rights space.
"When you look on this campus, you see the future. And so our responsibility as faculty and staff is improve human capital with our future. That's the students here on this campus."
The impact of the CRI actually spread to another campus.
I spoke with FAMU student Dillon Joseph, who attended the event because he says FAMU doesn't have a CRI, but hopes the two schools can work together.
He also says the CRI is important in the fight against laws that restrict teaching Black history in state schools...
And others that would restrict diversity, inclusion and equity programs in colleges.
Gov. Ron DeSantis has previously labeled these programs as "woke indoctrination"--adding the programs are racially divisive and discriminatory.
In 2022, the governor signed the 'Stop WOKE Act' which restricts certain race-based conversations in schools and businesses.
Dillon says a dedicated CRI is crucial.
"Having a civil rights facility in a college is very much necessary because due to what is going on politically, things such as this will wane away or disappear completely if we don't grasp it completely."
Although the FSU institute isn't in direct response to this new law, co-founder Fred Flowers, the first Black student-athlete in FSU history, says the CRI does aim to create political change.
"it's going to focus on historical facts, American history, human rights, civil rights, which ultimately culminates in some type of policy changes and considerations.
The CRI says it plans to mark it's hard opening on Martin Luther King Day in January. In Collegetown, I'm Alberto Camargo, ABC27.
